Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development

A special issue of Information (ISSN 2078-2489). This special issue belongs to the section "Artificial Intelligence".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2023) | Viewed by 17013

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, King Faisal University, al Hasa, Saudi Arabia
Interests: artificial intelligence; information systems

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Guest Editor
School of Information Technology and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Velloren 632014, India
Interests: artificial intelligence; IoT; XAI; federated learning; Industry 5.0

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Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Interests: machine learning; deep learning; soft computing; high-performance computing; computer vision; image processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses mainly on the challenges, opportunities, threats and future directions regarding sustainable development around the world. The evolution of standards, such as Industry 5.0 or Society 5.0 automation, mean that artificial intelligence and humans can be living in parallel universes. These standards are human-centric, and these technologies are used to provide sustainable development in human life. This issue welcomes both research and review article that provide solutions regarding how artificial intelligence can help solve the challenges faced by sustainability. This Issue mainly focuses on papers related to how artificial intelligent can enhance and support human life. Papers regarding the following topics are welcomed, but are not limited to these:

  • Industry 5.0 and AI;
  • Deep learning models for human life support;
  • Evolution of XAI in commercial and medical applications;
  • Federated learning for education and global e-learning;
  • Forest wealth protection using artificial intelligence;
  • Metaverse application for human-centric solutions;
  • AI for medication;
  • AI for water resource management;
  • AI for waste recycle and management.

Dr. Surbhi Bhatia
Dr. M.K. Nallakaruppan
Prof. Dr. Jose Santamaria
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • AI
  • deep learning
  • XAI
  • federated learning
  • Industry 5.0

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 9861 KiB  
Article
Optimal Fusion of Multispectral Optical and SAR Images for Flood Inundation Mapping through Explainable Deep Learning
by Jacob Sanderson, Hua Mao, Mohammed A. M. Abdullah, Raid Rafi Omar Al-Nima and Wai Lok Woo
Information 2023, 14(12), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14120660 - 14 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1543
Abstract
In the face of increasing flood risks intensified by climate change, accurate flood inundation mapping is pivotal for effective disaster management. This study introduces a novel explainable deep learning architecture designed to generate precise flood inundation maps from diverse satellite data sources. A [...] Read more.
In the face of increasing flood risks intensified by climate change, accurate flood inundation mapping is pivotal for effective disaster management. This study introduces a novel explainable deep learning architecture designed to generate precise flood inundation maps from diverse satellite data sources. A comprehensive evaluation of the proposed model is conducted, comparing it with state-of-the-art models across various fusion configurations of Multispectral Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. The proposed model consistently outperforms other models across both Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images, achieving an Intersection Over Union (IOU) of 0.5862 and 0.7031, respectively. Furthermore, analysis of the different fusion combinations reveals that the use of Sentinel-1 in combination with RGB, NIR, and SWIR achieves the highest IOU of 0.7053 and that the inclusion of the SWIR band has the greatest positive impact on the results. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping is employed to provide insights into its decision-making processes, enhancing transparency and interpretability. This research contributes significantly to the field of flood inundation mapping, offering an efficient model suitable for diverse applications. This study not only advances flood inundation mapping but also provides a valuable tool for improved understanding of deep learning decision-making in this area, ultimately contributing to improved disaster management strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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21 pages, 387 KiB  
Article
The Coupling and Coordination Degree of Digital Business and Digital Governance in the Context of Sustainable Development
by Aleksy Kwilinski, Oleksii Lyulyov and Tetyana Pimonenko
Information 2023, 14(12), 651; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14120651 - 06 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1363
Abstract
The inexorable march of technological advancement, particularly within the digital domain, continues to exert a profound influence on global economies, societies, and governance frameworks. This paper delves into the intricate coordination between digital business and digital governance against the backdrop of sustainable development. [...] Read more.
The inexorable march of technological advancement, particularly within the digital domain, continues to exert a profound influence on global economies, societies, and governance frameworks. This paper delves into the intricate coordination between digital business and digital governance against the backdrop of sustainable development. By introducing an index system to gauge the levels of digital business and governance, this study assesses their coupling coordination using a coupling coordination model. Through this level of coordination, this paper assesses their respective contributions to the sustainable development objectives of EU countries through panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) estimates. The paper’s findings underscore several key conclusions: (1) Notable upswings are evident in the composite indices for digital business and digital governance growth. Among these, the index of digital business has demonstrated the most pronounced surge. Furthermore, digital business has experienced a distinct upward trajectory in recent years. (2) Although observable, the rise of the coupling degree is restrained, with an overall coupling degree that remains relatively low. The coupling progression has transitioned from a stage of low-degree coupling to that of primary coupling, with EU countries demonstrating fluctuating rising trends in their coupling degrees, marked by conspicuous regional disparities. (3) Over the examined period, the extent of coordination between digital business and digital governance substantially impacts the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index. Focusing on the interplay and harmonization between digital business and governance offers a novel pathway toward attaining the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
16 pages, 587 KiB  
Article
Severity Grading and Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease through Transfer Learning
by Saeed Alqahtani, Ali Alqahtani, Mohamed A. Zohdy, Abdulaziz A. Alsulami and Subramaniam Ganesan
Information 2023, 14(12), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14120646 - 03 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1350
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an illness affecting the neurological system in people commonly aged 65 years and older. It is one of the leading causes of dementia and, subsequently, the cause of death as it gradually affects and destroys brain cells. In recent [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an illness affecting the neurological system in people commonly aged 65 years and older. It is one of the leading causes of dementia and, subsequently, the cause of death as it gradually affects and destroys brain cells. In recent years, the detection of AD has been examined in ways to mitigate its impacts while considering early detection through computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) tools. In this study, we developed deep learning models that focus on early detection and classifying each case, non-demented, moderate-demented, mild-demented, and very-mild-demented, accordingly through transfer learning (TL); an AlexNet, ResNet-50, GoogleNet (InceptionV3), and SqueezeNet by utilizing magnetic resonance images (MRI) and the use of image augmentation. The acquired images, a total of 12,800 images and four classifications, had to go through a pre-processing phase to be balanced and fit the criteria of each model. Each of these proposed models split the data into 80% training and 20% testing. AlexNet performed an average accuracy of 98.05%, GoogleNet (InceptionV3) performed an average accuracy of 97.80%, and ResNet-50 had an average performing accuracy of 91.11%. The transfer learning approach assists when there is not adequate data to train a network from the start, which aids in tackling one of the major challenges faced when working with deep learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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16 pages, 6422 KiB  
Article
RealWaste: A Novel Real-Life Data Set for Landfill Waste Classification Using Deep Learning
by Sam Single, Saeid Iranmanesh and Raad Raad
Information 2023, 14(12), 633; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14120633 - 27 Nov 2023
Viewed by 2635
Abstract
The accurate classification of landfill waste diversion plays a critical role in efficient waste management practices. Traditional approaches, such as visual inspection, weighing and volume measurement, and manual sorting, have been widely used but suffer from subjectivity, scalability, and labour requirements. In contrast, [...] Read more.
The accurate classification of landfill waste diversion plays a critical role in efficient waste management practices. Traditional approaches, such as visual inspection, weighing and volume measurement, and manual sorting, have been widely used but suffer from subjectivity, scalability, and labour requirements. In contrast, machine learning approaches, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), have emerged as powerful deep learning models for waste detection and classification. This paper analyses VGG-16, InceptionResNetV2, DenseNet121, Inception V3, and MobileNetV2 models to classify real-life waste when trained on pristine and unadulterated materials, versus samples collected at a landfill site. When training on DiversionNet, the unadulterated material dataset with labels required for landfill modelling, classification accuracy was limited to 49.69% in the real environment. Using real-world samples in the newly formed RealWaste dataset showed that practical applications for deep learning in waste classification are possible, with Inception V3 reaching 89.19% classification accuracy on the full spectrum of labels required for accurate modelling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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13 pages, 2942 KiB  
Article
Machine Learning in the Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Flow on a Site with Heterogeneous Vegetation
by Ekaterina Kulakova and Elena Muravyova
Information 2023, 14(11), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14110591 - 01 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1217
Abstract
The article presents the results of studies of carbon dioxide flow in the territory of section No. 5 of the Eurasian Carbon Polygon (Russia, Republic of Bashkortostan). The gas analyzer Sniffer4D V2.0 (manufactured in Shenzhen, China) with an installed CO2 sensor, quadrocopter [...] Read more.
The article presents the results of studies of carbon dioxide flow in the territory of section No. 5 of the Eurasian Carbon Polygon (Russia, Republic of Bashkortostan). The gas analyzer Sniffer4D V2.0 (manufactured in Shenzhen, China) with an installed CO2 sensor, quadrocopter DJI MATRICE 300 RTK (manufactured in Shenzhen, China) were used as control devices. The studies were carried out on a clear autumn day in conditions of green vegetation and on a frosty November day with snow cover. Statistical characteristics of experimental data arrays are calculated. Studies of the influence of temperature, humidity of atmospheric air on the current value of CO2 have been carried out. Graphs of the distribution of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmospheric air of section No. 5 on autumn and winter days were obtained. It has been established that when building a model of CO2 in the air, the parameters of the process of deposition by green vegetation should be considered. It was found that in winter, an increase in air humidity contributes to a decrease in gas concentration. At an ambient temperature of 21 °C, an increase in humidity leads to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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14 pages, 1737 KiB  
Article
Artificial Intelligence Generative Tools and Conceptual Knowledge in Problem Solving in Chemistry
by Wajeeh Daher, Hussam Diab and Anwar Rayan
Information 2023, 14(7), 409; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14070409 - 16 Jul 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3894
Abstract
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a valuable resource for teaching and learning, and it has also shown promise as a tool to help solve problems. A tool that has gained attention in education is ChatGPT, which supports teaching and [...] Read more.
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a valuable resource for teaching and learning, and it has also shown promise as a tool to help solve problems. A tool that has gained attention in education is ChatGPT, which supports teaching and learning through AI. This research investigates the difficulties faced by ChatGPT in comprehending and responding to chemistry problems pertaining to the topic of Introduction to Material Science. By employing the theoretical framework proposed by Holme et al., encompassing categories such as transfer, depth, predict/explain, problem solving, and translate, we evaluate ChatGPT’s conceptual understanding difficulties. We presented ChatGPT with a set of thirty chemistry problems within the Introduction to Material Science domain and tasked it with generating solutions. Our findings indicated that ChatGPT encountered significant conceptual knowledge difficulties across various categories, with a notable emphasis on representations and depth, where difficulties in representations hindered effective knowledge transfer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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16 pages, 5427 KiB  
Article
Reef-Insight: A Framework for Reef Habitat Mapping with Clustering Methods Using Remote Sensing
by Saharsh Barve, Jody M. Webster and Rohitash Chandra
Information 2023, 14(7), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14070373 - 30 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1558
Abstract
Environmental damage has been of much concern, particularly in coastal areas and the oceans, given climate change and the drastic effects of pollution and extreme climate events. Our present-day analytical capabilities, along with advancements in information acquisition techniques such as remote sensing, can [...] Read more.
Environmental damage has been of much concern, particularly in coastal areas and the oceans, given climate change and the drastic effects of pollution and extreme climate events. Our present-day analytical capabilities, along with advancements in information acquisition techniques such as remote sensing, can be utilised for the management and study of coral reef ecosystems. In this paper, we present Reef-Insight, an unsupervised machine learning framework that features advanced clustering methods and remote sensing for reef habitat mapping. Our framework compares different clustering methods for reef habitat mapping using remote sensing data. We evaluate four major clustering approaches based on qualitative and visual assessments which include k-means, hierarchical clustering, Gaussian mixture model, and density-based clustering. We utilise remote sensing data featuring the One Tree Island reef in Australia’s Southern Great Barrier Reef. Our results indicate that clustering methods using remote sensing data can well identify benthic and geomorphic clusters in reefs when compared with other studies. Our results indicate that Reef-Insight can generate detailed reef habitat maps outlining distinct reef habitats and has the potential to enable further insights for reef restoration projects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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20 pages, 1244 KiB  
Article
An Informed Decision Support Framework from a Strategic Perspective in the Health Sector
by Mohammed Alojail, Mohanad Alturki and Surbhi Bhatia Khan
Information 2023, 14(7), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14070363 - 26 Jun 2023
Viewed by 2332
Abstract
This paper introduces an informed decision support framework (IDSF) from a strategic perspective in the health sector, focusing on Saudi Arabia. The study addresses the existing challenges and gaps in decision-making processes within Saudi organizations, highlighting the need for proper systems and identifying [...] Read more.
This paper introduces an informed decision support framework (IDSF) from a strategic perspective in the health sector, focusing on Saudi Arabia. The study addresses the existing challenges and gaps in decision-making processes within Saudi organizations, highlighting the need for proper systems and identifying the loopholes that hinder informed decision making. The research aims to answer two key research questions: (1) how do decision makers ensure the accuracy of their decisions? and (2) what is the proper process to govern and control decision outcomes? To achieve these objectives, the research adopts a qualitative research approach, including an intensive literature review and interviews with decision makers in the Saudi health sector. The proposed IDSF fills the gap in the existing literature by providing a comprehensive and adaptable framework for decision making in Saudi organizations. The framework encompasses structured, semi-structured, and unstructured decisions, ensuring a thorough approach to informed decision making. It emphasizes the importance of integrating non-digital sources of information into the decision-making process, as well as considering factors that impact decision quality and accuracy. The study’s methodology involves data collection through interviews with decision makers, as well as the use of visualization tools to present and evaluate the results. The analysis of the collected data highlights the deficiencies in current decision-making practices and supports the development of the IDSF. The research findings demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms existing approaches, offering improved accuracy and efficiency in decision making. Overall, this research paper contributes to the state of the art by introducing a novel IDSF specifically designed for the Saudi health sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development)
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